Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his first regular season press conference on Tuesday and below is the injury report he gave for the Sunday season opener against the Tennessee Titans.
Will Johnson (hamstring) is still nursing the hamstring injury that he suffered in the preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers but he is participating partially in practice, according to Tomlin. He’ll continue to do so going forward and they will leave the light on for him to be able to play Sunday.
Rookie linebacker Jarvis Jones (chest) also participated in practice Monday and he will play Sunday. Tomlin says the first-round draft pick is feeling good.
As for tight end Heath Miller (knee), he is currently only doing individual drills right now after being removed from the PUP list on Saturday. Tomlin said they will keep a close eye on not only what he does, but how his body responds to the work. They will use that as an indicator of when he will be ready to play.
Running back Isaac Redman (stinger) has a clean bill of health and he will start Sunday against the Titans.
As for rookie running back Le’Veon Bell, he has started some activity now that he is out of the boot. Tomlin characterized him as out this week, but not necessarily from a health standpoint as he said young players have to practice in order to be able to participate in games. At the very best, Tomlin said Bell would be a partial participant this week in practice.
Tight end Matt Spaeth (Lisfranc) is of course out this week and Tomlin acknowledged that he is a candidate to be placed on injured reserve with the designated to return tag.
